The test server, that wonderful place where anything is possible and the laws of time are routinely flaunted to bring us new heroes before those heroes are released, now has Templar Assassin (although not Nyx Assassin as well, as we thought. Boo!), along with a bunch of changes to the UI, and some potential future additions to the Dota 2 store.
As always, the tireless machine-man Cyborgmatt has broken down every single little detail, but I’ll just pick out some highlights along while throwing out some wild predictions.
Lanaya, the Templar Assassin, is a softer brand of carry than the likes of Phantom Assassin or Antimage. With Refraction, that lets her dodge incoming attacks, and Meld, that lets her slip into invisibility while standing still and deal massive damage attacking from it, she can become a complete areshole of a counterpart if you end up on mid lane against her.
By the time she gets Psionic Trap and levels Psionic Blades, if you haven’t already leveled and outfarmed her, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble as she slows you with the traps, and sends the blades flying through big waves of creeps and minions, and, ultimately, you. We’ll have some first impressions from the Test Server up by the end of the day.
As for the changes to the UI, there’s some changes to how replays work, where it won’t tell you automatically who won a match, if you desperately want to feel like you’re there, live, throwing your popcorn in the air when Enigma drops the perfect black hole. There’s also finally an option to turn off the game moving your camera on respawn, which is often more frustrating than not.
As for the next hero to be released, I'm still holding out hope for Nyx Assassin, because that art teaser can't mean nothing, surely. However, there were a bunch of new textures and a map icon for Naga added, so she seems like she'll be gracing Dota 2 with her serpentile ways soon enough. Oh, and some Keeper of the Light particle effects. He's going to be fun.
There’s a load of new unreleased content added, from a hammerhead head for Tidehunter to hit people with to an even bigger axe for Axe to axe with. More interestingly, there are a bunch of new strange modifiers specifically geared towards certain heroes like Jinada strike trackers for Bounty Hunter, or Double Shackles for Windrunner. There’s also a load more themed chests, for Tidehunter, Bounty Hunter, Invoker, Windrunner, and Witch Doctor.
Oh, and there’s a Summer Sale chest. And a Summer Sale key.
The patch should hit tomorrow, which is just about as close as we’ve come to confirmation that the Summer Sale is beyond imminent. It’s almost here.
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Alex commented on Dota 2 International 3 to be kicked off by Invictus on August 7